'Move To Impose Cultural Uniformity In Plural Country' : Feminist & Democratic Groups Condemn Targeting Of Hijab-Wearing Muslim Students

Over a thousand  feminist and civil rights democratic organisations from across the country have collectively released a statement on Thursday condemning the targeting and exclusion of Hijab-wearing Muslim women students in Karnataka's educational institutions.

The statement which has been signed by over 1,750 individuals including academicians, lawyers and activists reads, 

"Hijab ban is only the latest pretext to impose apartheid on and attack Muslim women, following on the heels of Hindu supremacists holding multiple "online auctions" of Muslim women and making speeches calling for their sexual and reproductive enslavement."

It may be noted that recently several politically vocal Muslim women were being advertised for an online auction on the Bulli Bai App. Several photographs used for the virtual auction of prominent female journalists, activists and lawyers were also doctored.

The letter reprimanded the ban on hijabs in classrooms and campuses in Karnataka and further stated that such a practice amounts to a hate crime and is the latest pretext to impose an apartheid on Muslim women. It was further voiced that Hindu supremacists have continued to lynch/segregate/boycott Muslims on various pretexts - beef, Muslims' collective prayers, azaan, the skullcap, Urdu language.

Referring to the recent video from Mandya, Karnataka of a saffron-stole wearing mob of men surrounding a hijab-wearing Muslim woman and heckling her, the statement underscored that the incident is a 'warning of how the hijab can easily become the next pretext for mob attacks on Muslims'.

Uniforms not meant to impose cultural uniformity on a plural country

The letter emphasised that the Constitution mandates schools and colleges to nurture plurality, not uniformity. It was further stated that uniforms in such institutions are meant to minimise differences between students of different and unequal economic classes. Highlighting that Muslim women should be allowed to wear hijabs with their uniforms, the letter further reads, 

"They (uniforms)  are not intended to impose cultural uniformity on a plural country. This is why Sikhs are allowed to wear turbans not only in the classroom but even in the police and Army. This is why Hindu students wear bindi/pottu/tilak/Vibhuti with school and college uniforms without comment or controversy. And likewise, Muslim women should be able to wear hijabs with their uniforms."

It was further stated that Rulebooks in at least one of the Udupi colleges allowed Muslim women to wear hijabs to college in Udupi as long as they matched the colour of the uniform. Arguing that banning both saffron stoles and hijabs is not a fair or just solution, the statement further emphasised that saffron stoles were used by Hindu supremacists to intimidate Muslim women. 

Hindu supremacists used saffron stoles to intimidate Muslim women 

"It is not hijabs that provoked the ongoing educational disruptions. It is Hindu-supremacist outfits which disrupted harmony by staging demonstrating with saffron stoles to demand a ban on hijabs. Banning both saffron stoles and hijabs is not a fair or just solution because unlike hijabs worn by some Muslim women, the only purpose of the saffron stoles in this instance were to achieve a ban on the hijab and intimidate Muslim women", the letter reads further. 

Making hijabi women sit in separate classrooms is nothing but apartheid

The statement further highlighted that making hijab clad Muslim women sit in separate classrooms qualify as apartheid. It was further stated that patriarchal hate crimes have been meted out by Hindu supremacists against both Muslim and Hindu women. 

"Making hijabi women sit in separate classrooms or move from colleges of their choice to Muslim-run colleges is nothing but apartheid. Hindu supremacist groups in coastal Karnataka have, since 2008, been unleashing violence to enforce such apartheid, attacking togetherness between Hindu and Muslim classmates, friends, lovers. It must be remembered that such violence has been accompanied by equally violent attacks on Hindu women who visit pubs, wear "western" clothes, or love/marry Muslim men. Islamophobic hate crimes have been joined at the hip to patriarchal hate crimes against Muslim and Hindu women - by the same Hindu-supremacist perpetrators", the letter stated further. 

Strongly condemning the decision of the Karnataka Home Minister to order an investigation into the phone records of hijab-wearing Muslim women to probe into alleged links with 'terrorism groups', the statement further underscored, 

"Till yesterday Muslims were being criminalised and accused of "terrorism" and "conspiracy" for protesting a discriminatory citizenship law, or indeed for protesting against any form of discrimination. Now Muslim women wearing hijab is being treated as a conspiracy - in a country where women of many Hindu and Sikh communities cover their heads in much the same way, for much the same reasons; and even India's first woman PM and President covered their heads with their saris without exciting comment or controversy."

Girls and women should be able to access education without being punished for their clothes 

It was stated that educational institutions should pay attention to what is inside students' heads not what's on them. Furthermore, the letter underscored that women should be able to access education without being shamed or punished for their clothes. Expressing solidarity with Muslim women, the letter stipulated, 

"We stand with every woman who is told that she can't enter college because she's wearing jeans or shorts - or because she's wearing a hijab. We unequivocally stand in solidarity with Muslim women whether or not they wear hijabs, to be treated with respect and to enjoy the full gamut of rights. We affirm that the Karnataka Muslim women students wearing hijabs are doing so of their own agency, and this agency must be respected."

Whether women choose to cover or uncover is a matter of 'choice'

Highlighting that women must have the agency to decide what they want to wear, the statement further stated that women should not be told what they must wear in order to be respected. It was further stated that the choice to cover or uncover cannot be a measure of modesty and immodesty.

"Stop trying to tell women what they must wear in order to be respected - instead respect women no matter what they wear. If you think a woman "exposes herself too much" or does not "dress like a good Hindu/Muslim/Christian/Sikh woman", the problem lies with your patriarchal gaze and sense of entitlement. Feminism lies in respecting that every woman charts her own path in fighting patriarchy, and deciding what practices are in keeping with her faith and which ones to reject", the letter states. 

The statement added that the signed organisations and individuals demand stern action against the organisations and individuals who led and participated in the mob that heckled a Muslim woman in Mandya. All over the country, we ask governments to alert police and public to the need to deter any attempt to intimidate hijab-wearing women, it was stated further. 

 The letter was endorsed by over 130 groups across 15 states including All India Democratic Women's Association, All India Progressive Women's Association, National Federation of Indian Women, Bebaak Collective, Saheli Women's Resource Centre, Awaaz e Nizwan, National Alliance of People's Movements, Forum Against Oppression of Women, People's Union for Civil Liberties, Dalit Women's Collective, National Federation of Dalit Women, Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression, Feminists In Resistance. 

Some of the signatories of the letter include Kavita Krishnan, Mariam Dhawale, Annie Raja, Aruna Roy, Radhika Vemula, Manuja Pradeep, Safoora Zargar, Hasina Khan, Ajita Rao, Khalida Parveen, Uma Chakravarti, Sujatha Surepally, Vrinda Grover, Virginia Saldanha, Satnam Kaur and Sadhna Arya, Chayanika Shah, Poushali Basak, Nivedita Menon, Susie Tharu, Prabhat Patnaik, Radhika Singha, Amrita Chachhi among others.

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